Baby snacks

I decided I needed a pot of flowers to last at least 2 weeks for a spot of color--we got a hanging pot from a school sale last summer that lasted several months. But enough about my brown thumb. While I was browsing at Marc's grocery, a mommy with a 6 month old ( I'm guessing) in the cart was also looking. Just the cutest and smiling with 2 teeth so I smiled back. I wondered if I should tell mommy that her sweety was eating the flowers while she was distracted. I didn't. Some mom's just don't want advice, and others don't care about herbicides and bugs.

Dog Vomit Slime Mold Fuligo septica

 That's what I have in my flowers/bushes in front of our condo.  I took a photo and posted it on Facebook. Someone identified it. It's bright yellow early in the morning. It even has a Latin name, and was identified and named in the 1700s.

Dog Vomit Slime Mold (Fuligo septica) · iNaturalist

Folklore

In Scandinavian folklore, Fuligo septica is identified as the vomit of troll cats.[18]

In Finland, F. septica was believed to be used by witches to spoil their neighbors' milk. This gives it the name paranvoi, meaning "butter of the familiar spirit".[8][19] In Dutch, "heksenboter" refers to "witches' butter". In Latvian, the slime mold (amongst other slime molds) is called "ragansviests" as "witches' butter" or "raganu spļāviens" as "witches' spit" but it is unclear about the origins of these names.

Human pathogenicity

The species is known to trigger episodes of asthma and allergic rhinitis in susceptible people. [20][21]

Good buy.

I was in Walmart on Bethel last Thursday and noticed how nice the fresh flowers looked, so I stopped. There were 3 price levels for bouquet size. I picked out a $5, all buds, but I knew they were lilies. There were 13-14 buds, now in full flower--pink, yellow and orange. What a lovely surprise. God's artistry.

Toxic masculinity and white supremacy

There was a huge semi parked in front of Marc's today--full of potted mums. All had been unloaded by the time I walked in. There must have been hundreds, every color and size. I kept thinking about the time and physical effort to drive that massive truck, and to load and unload. When I came out I saw the truck had moved ahead a little so as not to block the store entrance. I could see someone moving around inside, so I stood by the truck's tail gate for the driver (and I assumed a helper) to come out. He finally appeared. Only guy on the truck. He was white, fair skin, about 20, slight build, with a huge smile, blue eyes, and neatly dressed. "Can I help you," he asked. "Did you do all that by yourself?" I asked, motioning to the racks and racks of mums. He still had a load of flowers inside the truck and was moving them. "Oh yeah, it's not hard, and now I have another stop for the rest of the load."

Maybe there's a slender woman out there who could have wrestled this load and driven the truck and still be pleasant and polite to a stranger, but I haven't met her.

Will they survive?

When these flowers were planted I think it was about 50 degrees (on Saturday) and we were running the furnace. Then on Sunday we had 2 hours of thunderstorm warnings and strong wind. On Monday the temperatures soared into the 90s. I hope they can survive our no-Spring Spring.

It was like Christmas!

First, the Christmas flower (amaryllis) from brother Rick and sister Kate bloomed. My, how magnificent! Cute pot too. Then Joan sent a check for $34 to buy my 1979 Lady Clairol make-up mirror. God knows, I don't need it--it's too late! It will probably cost half that to mail it, but I've found a box and wrapping paper. Lynne, a Watkins salesperson in Nebraska, sent me my 3 Lemon Cream Shea Butter in a JAR, plus 3 darling little samples, one being peppermint foot cream--never heard of such a luxury. Last week I got my once a year letter from my college roommate who put me in touch with a mutual friend, Denise from Forreston, I'd met when I was 6 and she was 3, and she mailed me a stack of photographs. What a joy to see her and her siblings after all these years, and actually she doesn't look much different from the only other photo I had of her in a snow suit with Santa Claus.

But that means the clutter is starting to build on my desk again, and I haven't yet cleaned out the box.

[The two paintings on the easel are my husband's of our trips to Jerusalem (2009) and Ireland (2007); he's president this year of the Central Ohio Watercolor Society.]

New colors on our street

Not much could be done about the ugly 80s wood panel siding that had enveloped this late 19th century cottage. So the new owners gave her a new, pretty pinafore. I think this is the happiest red house paint I've ever seen. And the new landlord is lucky too--he found a renter for the entire summer, and having been there, let me tell you, that sure saves wear and tear on your newly decorated home! It's a little hard to tell after multiple remodelings, but at some time this home probably had an open porch on both levels. But before that, it might have been a "wooden tent," with walls and roof erected over what began as a platform for a summer tent. Oak is in the "old" part of town, or the original camp ground. Many cottage owners filled the porches in years ago to use as bedrooms or living space. In the 19th c. the lake air was the only air conditioning around here. But storms make it tough to maintain, and this cottage is just half a block from the lake.



Next door is a "camp cottage" and these owners have spruced up the lower porch with purple and lavender and some brightly painted adirondock chairs. The rest of the cottage is gray. The lower porch still has screens and the sleeping porch above it is now enclosed.

Further down the street on the lakefront, our neighbors have donated hours of time, labor and bulbs to give all of us a beautiful flower garden. Their payment must be the pleasure of others. These are Asian lilies, I think, but are tastefully arranged with many other types and sizes of blooms.

Friday family photo--new baby, new house 1968

When I was looking through the album I wondered why someone had sent us a beautiful bouquet. Our daughter is about 2.5 months and needed to be propped up for the camera. Then I looked closer. Sheets at the window? Pictures stacked in the corner? Yes! We'd recently moved from the apartment on Farleigh Rd. to our home on Abington Road, and someone (don't remember who) sent us flowers. We'd made an offer after one walk through during a January snow storm--first people through an open house by owner. The furnace failed in December 1967, so when we moved in we had a brand new furnace. It looks like I dressed her up just for the picture--a pink knit dress with matching booties. We lived there for 34 years.

Naked Ladies in Lakeside

Today our Naked Ladies have opened. It's a sign of mid-August in Lakeside. This isn't the view from my window (which has mini-blinds and part of our TV antenna tower in view) and is by Alexandra Rauh. I have some photos of ours, but this is so much better!

Preparations for Spring

You're probably thinking that I couldn't possibly have time to spruce up the house for Spring, what with keeping track of all the craziness of the politicians, academics, clerics and journalists. But here's the proof. Today I stopped by Garden Ridge and refreshed my supply of pansies with four bunches for $4, punched up my blue hydrangea blooms with 2 new bunches for $4, and a fresh wall wreath, half price for $4.99 to which I added a few blooms from several years ago. I think things look quite nice. . . from a little distance.

3960

The Flowers of Lakeside

Yes, our streets are really this close to the houses, and people do rest in hammocks.
A walk along the lakefront.
The Patio Restaurant, where fresh donuts are made every morning.


This is a WWI memorial for the soldiers from the township, but I suspect the cannon is from the War of 1812, because there was a famous battle on Lake Erie.